Sports enthusiasts of all skill levels in all sports are constantly striving to enhance their ability while progressing along The Journey to Better® path to improvement. This is especially true in sports such as golf, which is challenging to master, and challenging to maintain one's skill level in, once mastered.
For this reason, sports enthusiasts have turned to technical innovations in an effort to improve their game, including the use of monitoring devices used to determine and display information specific to the enthusiast, such as a golfer's swing path. Golfers and golf club equipment manufacturers have been increasingly relying upon sensors and monitors to evaluate a golfer's swing. Sensors and monitors may track conditions, such as club head speed, attack angle, launch angle, golf ball spin rate and spin direction, and so on. And sellers of golf club equipment, including outlets that specialize in golf club fitting, increasingly rely on such sensors and monitors to assist a prospective purchaser in selecting golf clubs that best match their particular golf swing characteristics.
One such monitoring device that is commercially available is the “SB2” sensor available from Swingbyte, LLC (previously Swingbyte, Inc.) of Chicago, Ill. Such sensors, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,696,482, incorporated in its entirety by reference herein, are typically removeably attached to the shaft of a golf club, for example with a clamping mechanism, or fixed to the shaft, for example, with an adhesive. As is now known by virtue of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/564,933, filed Dec. 9, 2014, assigned to the assignee of the present application, and incorporated in its entirety by reference herein, monitoring devices may also be placed within sporting apparatus, such as the head, shaft, and/or grip of a golf club.
Such monitoring devices, also termed “three-dimensional golf swing analyzers,” work as an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), and typically include, for example, a three-axis accelerometer capable of producing and transmitting linear acceleration data, a three-axis gyroscope capable of producing and transmitting angular velocity data, a first microprocessor that receives data from the accelerometer and the gyroscope and processes the data, a first computer memory wherein the microprocessor stores the processed data, and a radio transmitter for transmitting the processed data from the first computer memory. MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) technology may be used for the accelerometer and the gyroscope. The monitoring device is typically powered by a battery or other suitable power source. A housing may be used to hold the microprocessor, accelerometer, gyroscope computer memory, radio transmitter, and battery.
Such monitoring devices capture and analyze golf swing (or other sporting apparatus motion) data by attaching the monitoring device to a golf club either below the grip or on the cap, or by integrating the sensor into the shaft or head. After hitting a shot or swinging the golf club (or other sporting apparatus) players and instructors can view an interactive, three-dimensional animation of the swing, along with key metrics, such as club head speed, path, plane, and various angles at impact. It is sometimes preferred to affix such monitoring devices at a position remote from the golf club head, due to the head's tendency to vibrate violently at the point of impact, potentially disrupting the monitoring device's attempts to measure the swing characteristics. Such monitoring devices may use a transmitter to send processed linear and angular movement data that defines a sporting apparatus swing, e.g., a golf club swing, to a receiver on a mobile device, such as a smart phone, tablet computer, or laptop computer. A computer application running on the mobile device may receive the processed data, process the data further and display a graphical representation of the entire swing with comprehensive statistics for every point of the swing. The processed data may be stored and later used along with theoretical data to coach a golfer or other sporting apparatus user on his or her swing.
As used herein, the term “monitoring device” is intended to mean a device that is configured to perform one of more of the following functions: to transmit and/or produce motion data, such as linear acceleration data and/or angular velocity data, to receive and/or process one or more of such types of motion data, to store such processed data, and/or to transmit the processed data, including without limitation devices such as the SB2 monitoring device previously described.
As used herein, the term “wearable device” is intended to mean a device normally worn by a user, and including a display that is readily viewable by the user in a hands-free manner, such as a watch or heads up display, including without limitation an Apple® Watch, and a Google Glass® device. In addition, a wearable device may include a golf glove having monitoring devices that can capture grip pressure on a golf club and relay the information back to the user, such as that seen in the SensoGlove® product, available at http://shop.sensoglove.com. This technology utilizes only the glove to gather and display the information, and does not require transmission of data, to a mobile device, for example.
As used herein, the term “mobile device” is intended to mean a device not normally worn by a user (or if worn, for example in a holster, having a display not readily viewable by the user while being worn), such as a smart phone, tablet computer, or laptop computer that is configurable to communicate with a wearable device and/or a monitoring device.
One of the practical problems facing sports enthusiasts, and golfers in particular, is the need to disable or remove monitoring devices from the sporting apparatus with which they are associated. For example, the USGA does not permit use of monitoring devices “on course” in order for the round being played to count, either for USGA handicapping purposes, or for competitive purposes, including both PGA Tour and amateur tournaments. It is thus necessary for any player having a monitoring device associated with his or her golf clubs to remove the device prior to playing a round of golf in order for that round not to be disqualified under USGA rules. While it may be a minor inconvenience to disable or remove such a device if it is merely clipped to the golf club shaft, or used on only one club, such removal or disabling becomes more cumbersome if all of the golfer's clubs (14 being the USGA limit) are equipped with such a device, or if the device is not removeably attached to the shaft, but is housed in the grip, for example, under a screw-off cap, or is housed in the club head, for example, according to the teachings of the aforementioned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/564,933.
Moreover, current systems do not readily permit a golfer who is practicing while playing a practice round, to readily view motion data in real time and after each shot, in order to adjust his or her swing, club, etc., without the need to fumble for a mobile device such as a smart phone to view a display of such data.